Fall River Memorial Day parade marches on to honor fallen troops

FALL RIVER — Rain or shine, Fall River honors its veterans and war dead.

While some surrounding communities canceled their Memorial Day events because of Monday’s rainy weather, the city’s annual Memorial Day Parade down South Main Street went off without a hitch.

“We’re not going to be deterred by rain,” Mayor Jasiel Correia II later said during a ceremony inside the Government Center Atrium. Flanked by Gold Star families to his right, Correia said moving forward with the Memorial Day events in inclement weather was the least the city could do to honor those who gave their lives for their country.

The Gold Star Families’ loved ones made “the ultimate sacrifice, they paid in blood for our freedoms so our country can be free,” Correia said.

For awhile on Monday, it looked like the parade, which kicked off at 2 p.m. from Kennedy Park, was going to be a soggy affair. But by the early afternoon, though the skies remained overcast, the rains held off and prevented the marchers and those watching from the sidewalks on South Main Street from getting soaked.

Marchers included veterans, current military members, local civic groups, elected officials, honor guards from Fall River police, fire and EMS, and others. Before the parade, officials at Kennedy Park’s World War II memorial observed a moment of silence, later punctuated by a 21-gun salute and a rendition of taps. White doves were released into the air in honor of fallen and missing combat veterans.

After the parade, at Government Center, officials held a speaking program to reflect on the day’s significance.

Saying that Fall River is blessed to have several war veterans memorials throughout the city, Correia said Memorial Day’s events are important so that the community can never forget those who have died in battle. He also said the United States enters into conflicts because Americans have “a unified belief of freedom and peace for the entire world.”

Army National Guard Spc. Heather Salva, the chief of staff of the Greater Fall River War Veterans Council, said fallen veterans and their relatives answered the call to duty and wrote a blank check at the expense of their lives to protect the country’s safety and freedom.

“I would like to remind everybody that these people did not die in vain,” Salva said. “They represent the character of a nation that has a long history of patriotism. These heroes are the reason we stand here today, to remember them.

“Though we can never repay their debt, we can choose to be kind to one another and live a life worthy of their sacrifice,” Salva added.

The Rev. Robert Lawrence, pastor emeritus of the First Congregational Church in Fall River, spoke at length about Memorial Day being a national day of memory.

“A basic need of humanity is to not be forgotten, but to be remembered,” Lawrence said.

Listening to Lawrence’s remarks were the local Gold Star families who served as the grand marshals of this year’s Fall River Memorial Day Parade.

“What an honor,” said Bob Tavares, a Gold Star family member whose older brother, Charles Albert Tavares, was killed in Vietnam at age 18 in 1960. Tavares described the turnout for Monday’s parade and speaking ceremony as “unbelievable.”

“I’m so proud of the community for honoring veterans the way that they do,” Tavares said.